MANCHESTER, England (AP) — No Lionel Messi. No Cristiano Ronaldo.

When the Ballon d’Or is awarded on Monday at a gala ceremony in Paris, it will feel like the start of a new era in football. There’s also a sense of emptiness now that one of sports’ most compelling rivalries is arguably over.

“It’s interesting that as this starts to wind down, we’re kind of wondering what the next equivalent rivalry will be,” football writer Jonathan Wilson told the Associated Press. “As if this kind of rivalry is a natural state. But there has never been a rivalry like this before.

Messi and Ronaldo won football’s most prestigious individual prize 13 times during a 16-year period of unprecedented dominance. Neither was nominated this year.

Instead, Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior is the favorite to be crowned the world’s best player and become the first born winner this century.

He underlined his credentials this week with a superb Champions League hat-trick against Borussia Dortmund.

“Vinicius has had an incredible season where he has been a key player… he has proven that he is the best player in the world,” Madrid teammate Lucas Vazquez said.

But rather than Vinicius spearheading a new era of dominance, it seems likely that the prize will return to an era before Messi and Ronaldo, when multiple winners were relatively rare.

French great Zinedine Zidane, for example, has only won it once. The same goes for Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Luis Figo and George Best. Initially reserved for European players, it was never won by Pelé or Diego Maradona.

Before Messi, the last player to win back-to-back awards was Dutch striker Marco van Basten in 1988 and 1989.

Messi won a record eighth Ballon d’Or last year after leading Argentina to World Cup triumph in 2022. Wilson, who wrote about the history of Argentine football in his book “Angels with dirty faces”, sees no obvious successor to the Barcelona great, now at Inter Miami.

“Messi was phenomenal for 17, 18 years,” he said. “It’s not a pure counting process, but in terms of greatness over a sustained period, Messi is by far the greatest who has ever lived.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in the world now who has anything close to that talent.”

Such was Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance that not only would Vinicius Junior become the first winner born this century, but there has never even been a recipient born in the 90s.

Vinicius Junior, whose goals helped Madrid win a 15th European Cup last season, is part of a new generation of stars who are blossoming as Messi and Ronaldo reach the latter stages of their careers.

Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal make up a group of contenders who could challenge for years.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri is the second favorite to win this year and would become the first player born in the 90s to win the award.

Mbappe, who has long been considered the heir to Messi and Ronaldo as the world’s best player, was born in 1998, meaning there will likely be a winner from this decade, even if Rodri misses out.

The only other winners since Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or in 2008 were Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022. Both were born in the 1980s.

The award was canceled in 2020, when Robert Lewandowski was widely considered the best player of that year. He was also born in the 80s.

Neymar, born in 1992, came third twice.

The Ballon d’Or was created by France Football magazine and has been awarded since 1956. It is voted for by journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings.

Each journalist, one per country, selects 10 players in order of ranking, with points awarded to each position. The winner is the player who receives the most points.

The dominance of Messi and Ronaldo in the age of social media has raised the profile of this award.

The players talk about their dream of winning it in the same way they might have talked about the Champions League and the World Cup in the past.

Winning potential is used during transfer negotiations, with clauses added to contracts stating that a buying club will pay an additional fee if a player becomes crowned the world’s best player.

While Vinicius appears to be in pole position this year, Mbappe versus Haaland has the potential to turn into a new rivalry for the prize – especially since they are the strikers of Madrid and Manchester City respectively, the two top teams of Europe in recent years. .

“This whole idea of ​​rivalries and sort of head-to-head matches is such a big part of football now,” football writer Matt Oldfield told the Associated Press. “People want to be able to simplify things one-on-one, and I think the Mbappe-Haaland debate will be the main one.”

Oldfield writes children’s books about football and, during visits to schools, he measures the popularity of players among young fans.

His latest series is called “The Football GOAT.” »

The first book in the series focused on Messi and Ronaldo. The next one is for Mbappe and Haaland: “We’re kind of overtaking Messi and Ronaldo now,” he said.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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